So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees ofdamnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amidthe civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate todivine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century--the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of womanthrough hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light--are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any partof the world;--in other words, and with a still wider significance,so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the natureof Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use.